


The Curtain Call

by ArcheaMajuar



Series: Gaby/Pierrette [1]
Category: 8 femmes (2002)
Genre: F/F, Hugs, Pre-Femslash, Sharing a Bed, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29159787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcheaMajuar/pseuds/ArcheaMajuar
Summary: “What are you doing?” slipped through Gaby’s lips quietly as she, trembling under the effortless touch that wasn’t even touching her but the stole, wasn’t able to endure the electric silence between them, while being scandalously eager to move things forward.“I think you know…” Pierrette offered her a daring smile and her eyes darkened, causing Gaby to swallow hard, her chest ached with anticipation, her heart brimming with hope.
Relationships: Gaby/Pierrette (8 femmes)
Series: Gaby/Pierrette [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154813
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	The Curtain Call

**Author's Note:**

> The story is a bit naive, maybe too nice to these characters, but... I just needed to put them together in something at least a bit fluffy and peaceful. I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> The title comes from a song called So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish by A Perfect Circle. Althought it has nothing to do with the movie or the pairing, I've been in love with it at the same time as with 8 Femmes.

They left her alone. Suddenly, Gaby was sitting on the sofa with nobody in sight, with nobody to catch her attention that was now free to focus on things that happened and were unavoidably going to happen. Her heart ached with pain her daughters must’ve endured, yet Gaby was grateful for it as not only she deserved it, but also it was reminding her she wasn’t entirely dead on the inside. Despite her impassive façade, she deeply loved her family, but failed at showing it when necessary. When they needed it.

She failed as a mother, sister, madam… She failed as a human being, however, she wasn’t sad about it. No, she was quietly smirking to herself, pathetically revelling in being such a bitch. She deserved to be abandoned by everyone. Currently, all the residents were somewhere in the house, grieving, crying, and probably cursing her for being cold and inactive, but to her, it didn’t matter anymore.

Marcel’s death was the curtain call. From now on, they were free to do as they pleased and Gaby felt need to let everybody go whenever they choose. She wasn’t about to stop anyone, but if they searched her out in the future, she would answer. This wasn’t the end, but a beginning of a new chapter where everybody decided their own fate.

With freedom on the horizon, she felt the burden leaving her shoulders, allowing her to breathe deeply and to see things clearly once again. At first, she needed to learn everything about Marcel’s finances, upon which she would decide what the family would be able to afford.

She wasn’t anxious about being pressed into selling the house as she would’ve done it anyway. She had been ready to leave it together with all the memories tied to it yesterday, and her opinion about it hadn’t been modified by anything that occurred during the day. Moreover, the desired change of the atmosphere seemed too alluring for Gaby to forget it despite the fact that the man she wanted to run away with proved himself a liar.

She sighed, and shaking her head in resignation, she rose to her feet and wobbly headed for the kitchen. Whom was she trying to fool? Her lover lied in the same way she did as they revealed they loved each other, which wasn’t true in the slightest. She merely wanted to think of somebody else, to have somebody else next to her, and Marcel’s assistant was the easiest target.

They formed a perfect match, she rolled her eyes when she slowly, tiredly approached the stove and grabbed a match box because she couldn’t find her own in the main room. A lighter was nowhere to be spotted as well.

When turning to go back, she heard voices.

Very quiet voices were coming from the adjacent closet. Once Gaby realized that she was listening to Chanel and Pierrete, curiosity and jealousy, which she would’ve denied even on the deathbed, totally took control of her, preventing her from going back to the main room, making her froze on the spot. Holding her breath, she intently listened.

“No, no, Chanel, it’s not your fault, please, it is mine, and I cannot apologize enough for being… for being the way I am. I have never wanted to hurt you, but I did terribly,” Gaby heard Pierrette, her voice emotional, but determined, decisive, and as honest as Gaby had ever experienced. “I am sorry, Chanel, but my heart belongs to somebody else.”

“I see…” said Chanel and the conversation continued for some time, but Gaby’s mind couldn’t let go of the last Pierrette’s sentence, igniting so much emotions within her body she wasn’t sure how to react. She was used to supressing them, not showing them, but now, she was torn between two strongest emotions of all.

Hatred and… and…

No, she wasn’t able to even think of it, and shaking, her legs weak in the knees, she urged herself to move and not to spy on those women anymore, though she overheard Chanel talking about running away from the house as soon as possible, which Gaby sort of expected anyway. She told her terrible things and treated her so badly she didn’t believe Chanel would ever forgive her, and Gaby didn’t feel like she needed it. She just didn’t care about Chanel enough, which might’ve rendered her worse person than she’d already was perceived as, however, she doubted it was possible at all.

To add another disdainful thing about her, Gaby was aware of her fatal ignorance of the suffering people in the house. She loved them, of course, but was too tired to actually do anything right here and right now.

“The storm hasn’t passed yet,” she murmured to herself when making herself comfortable on the sofa, finally smoking, pushing all the problems into back of her mind together with guilt, hovering over her. Of course, she was neglecting her dearest ones because her mind, body, and soul couldn’t refrain from being utterly smitten by a woman that she strived to see as far worse than herself for years.

She desired her since they had met, but back then, she had no idea that loving a woman was an option, and because of that, she kept plunging into arms of men. She, indeed, love one, but Marcel…? Marrying him was just convenient for her, assuring she wouldn’t see Pierette often, but receive news about her, being aware whether she was alive and kicking. Literally sometimes.

She was so furious, so damned furious and frustrated that her desire for Pierette wasn’t ceasing over the time, and one day, Marcel didn’t embodied enough distraction from her thoughts and wants. Picturing her life with another man motivated her to keep supressing those emotions, and she was almost convinced that running away from this life would help her forget, but it felt like it wasn’t meant to be.

Like she was meant to be confronted with Pierrette about her… their… feelings.

Closing her eyes as the vivid memory of them kissing on the floor flooded her mind, hot waved washed over her, making it quite difficult to scare the image away because it was so, so alluring… How she was pressing her into the floor, all dominant and predatory, and… Gaby opened her eyes, and while staring at the ceiling she understood that such behaviour Louise expected of her, but Gaby wasn’t able to provide. After all, Gaby had been thinking Pierrette wasn’t willing of performing such acts as well as she used to have numerous scandalous affairs with men, however, this evening turned her opinion on her upside down.

She was interested in women. She was interested in her…

Just in time to greet Pierrette with a curt nod, Gaby managed to swallow the meek sigh ripping from her throat and recompose herself, hoping the heat of her cheeks wasn’t too obvious. She couldn’t be sure though as Pierrette offered her the omnipresent knowing smile, making Gaby quiver on the inside, playing with her emotions, empowering her desires, and Gaby didn’t want anything else but to kiss her senseless again.

The raw need to feel her body against her own caused mild fright to her as her rational part reminded her whom she was, and listening to the voice for a brief second, Gaby draw the stole closer to her chest as if shielding herself.

“I wouldn’t expect you here… at such an hour,” Pierrette remarked, sitting next to her, but fortunately for Gaby and her self-control, Pierrette left some distance between them.

“I could say the same about you. I wonder why you’re still here,” Gaby gazed at her coldly, hoping her words might be understood as a suggestion. Or a challenge.

“There were some issues I wanted to sort out when I still can,” Pierrette answered in a light tone and lit her cigarette as well before she leaned into cushions. “Chanel is leaving tomorrow, you know?”

“I would have expected anything else,” Gaby admitted, stubbornly staring in front of herself now, ignoring the way Pierrette was making herself comfortable, fighting the urge to look at her red dress, torn during their… passionate stay on the floor. “Everybody is going to leave the house eventually, I believe.”

“Are you pondering selling the it? It’s a large mansion with a rather unique history…” Pierrette continued the conversation, making Gaby uneasy about her intentions once again, but as long as it was just about talking…

“I hope the deal would cover any possible debts our family have,” Gaby revealed, puffing the smoke from the cigarette. “We all have bonds with this house, calling it home for decades, but everything pleasant connected with it has soured on this very day. For me it’s been a cage for a long time anyway,” she added bitterly, putting the cigarette aside and rearranging the stole again.

They plunged into deaf silence for a while, yet it didn’t grant Gaby with enough peace to relax as she was becoming nervous about what Pierrette was thinking about. Why was she staying in here? What was she hoping to happen?

“You’ll manage to work things out. With the house, the family, money matters… You’re a strong woman,” said Pierrette something so nice Gaby couldn’t possibly believe it.

It was wrong on so many levels that Gaby forced out a short, high-pitched laugh, followed by a comment she hadn’t thought entirely through:

“You’re far stronger than me.”

“Oh…” Pierrette was speechless for a second, cocking her head to one side in a silent question that Gaby acknowledged when her eyes took the liberty of stealing one short look at the other women.

“It is difficult to comprehend how you’ve managed to make peace with your fate,” she explained, giving in, and turning slightly towards Pierrette, meeting her eyes, their blue colour shy and docile for once. “People have always been talking behind your back, frowning upon your actions, your own family couldn’t stand you… But you sailed through all the wrong done to you with your head held high. Even now, when your brother is dead, you beam with optimism and high spirits.”

“You disapprove? Or do you envy me?” Pierrette continued looking at Gaby without emanating any signs of enmity. Quite the opposite as besides mentioned, Gaby sensed unexpected calm in her soul when simply talking to her, and thus she reacted to her words in quite a relaxed and honest way.

“No, not exactly this,” she shook her head, transfixing her eyes somewhere before her again. “I envy your determination to fight for your right to be free. I’ve been caged in here, while you… you’ve seen the world.”

Pierrette let out a light chuckle that brought Gaby’s attention back to the other woman who was smiling at her in a rather melancholic way.

“You know, I was thinking the same in the past, but… There’s nothing to envy. I’m free, yes, I guess I am, however, I have literally nothing in the end. You have at least your family, while I am alone,” she said, the smile persistent, but Gaby couldn’t tear her look away from Pierrette’s eyes, gleaming like two eternal pools of sombre.

Suddenly, she found herself overwhelmed by a wave of sympathy that almost made her say that Pierrette wasn’t about to be alone anymore, but she stopped herself just as she opened her mouth. She said something else though, something safer, something she wanted to say anyway, and letting her eyes wander around the empty, dim room, she confessed:

“I yearned to hate you and I certainly did try to make it look like it, but apparently I’m not able to hate somebody I… admire in fact,” her voice quivered when admitting a part of what she felt for Pierrette, her hands rubbing each other in a nervous gesture when she was baring her soul. “Then I hated myself for being too weak, hated Marcel because I saw you in his features…”

Not only her voice, but her whole body was trembling as she couldn’t stop herself from saying more, from being sincere, from striving to use the opportunity to clear up what was between her and Pierrette, and what seemed to be ignited from a spark into a blazing fire tonight.

“You are a strong woman, indeed,” spoke up Pierrette softly, deep respect resonating within her words. “It isn’t something you make me doubt. A strong woman and a beautiful one as well.”

With a feeling of butterflies mingling in her stomach, Gaby was struggling to believe that such heart-melting words were voiced by another woman. They hit her so hard that her own thoughts resembled something from a corny romantic novels, but she felt utterly smitten by the woman next to her, mesmerized and threaten at the same time when Pierrette repeated the gesture of petting her stole. There was something inherently erotic about the gentle touch, yet her mind was once again preoccupied with the patience Pierrette was showing. She didn’t rush, didn’t press… just waited for the right moment.

“What are you doing?” slipped through Gaby’s lips quietly as she, trembling under the effortless touch that wasn’t even touching her but the stole, wasn’t able to endure the electric silence between them, while being scandalously eager to move things forward.

“I think you know…” Pierrette offered her a daring smile and her eyes darkened, causing Gaby to swallow hard, her chest ached with anticipation, her heart brimming with hope.

“I… I’m not sure…” Gaby admitted by a minute movement of her lips, as the recent memory was holding her back from giving utterly in Pierrette’s charm. “I’ve overheard your heart belongs to somebody else… when you were talking with Chanel.”

“This is true,” Pierrette nodded, looking at her hand caressing the stole, her smile turning into a secretive one, driving Gaby crazy as she was taking her time to elaborate. “It’s true that it doesn’t belong to Chanel. She’s a pure soul that deserves somebody who never hurts her intentionally as I did.”

Her breath shallow, Gaby noticed Pierrette was shifting her position by sitting closer to her, but slightly behind her. Gaby tensed up as she couldn’t see Pierrette anymore, but tried to calm down when a pair of hands settled on her shoulders, Pierrette just bending her leg and placing it under herself to sit more comfortably behind Gaby’s back.

“But you… you deserve me,” she breathed out when leaning into Gaby, her hands sliding down Gaby’s arms, sending shivers to her whole body.

Desperately trying not to whimper, she failed to hide the effect Pierrette’s touch had on her though, inhaling shakily enough for Pierrette to hear her struggle.

“I haven’t said I wanted you,” she managed to muster the remaining ounces of self-control, fighting with her own doubts and prejudices, but she knew her endeavour was in vain, and quite pathetic because she wanted nothing else but to get lost in Pierrette’s arms, to feel her warm body and her hot lips again.

“You didn’t have to,” Pierrette gave a low laugh as her hands moved once more, hovering above Gaby’s chest where they subsequently landed, loosely hugging the blonde woman, while Pierrette placed her chin atop Gaby’s shoulder, speaking quite sensually: “Hardly ever did your eyes leave me when we were in one room, and hardly ever did you manage to look me in the eyes without feeling ashamed… and eager to be pinned down.”

Opening her mouth with a passionate protest on mind, Gaby wasn’t sure whether follow the rules she had always been living according to, or whether she should admit it was true. In the end, she let out only a sharp inhale, signalling her offence, but kept thinking of a remark fitting Pierrette’s boldness. The other woman silenced her successfully though, brushing her lips under the skin of Gaby’s ear, and as she planted a soft kiss there, Gaby relaxed again, unable to resist the act of seduction performed on her.

Aching for Pierrette’s attention, Gaby gulped and shut her eyes under the powerful realization that she was currently the only point of Pierrette’s focus, of her care, and that neither of them wanted it to end. Gaby was trembling in Pierrette’s embrace, desiring more, but if there were any traces of moral compass left in her, they called upon her once a wave of heat surged through her body, brought about by Pierrette’s finger, slipping under the hem of her dress, locating her nipple and flickering over it through the last remaining layer of fabric.

Her pulse growing rapidly fast, she moaned involuntarily, but mere second after Gaby snapped her eyes open, and failing at pulling Pierrette’s hand away, she grabbed her other hand and squeezed tightly.

“We can’t! We just can’t… here and now!” she said, her voice shaking and hoarse. She had to clear her throat to elaborate passionately: “You’re brother and my husband is dead, and we figured we took the same man as a lover. And you said you loved him!” 

“You have seemed quite fazed by literally nothing of it until now,” Pierrette withdrew her hand on her own, settling it again on Gaby’s shoulder before she pressed her breasts into Gaby’s back, whispering: “It’s obvious that if I placed my hand upon your thigh, you’d spread your legs for me without a hint of hesitation…”

Gaby gasped, her blood boiling suddenly with the mix of lust and anger, but before she could react in any other way, Pierrette laughed quietly and almost entirely let go of Gaby. Only their hands upon her shoulder kept touching as Pierrette turned her palm upside down to gently grab hold of Gaby’s.

“I know, Gaby, I know,” she said softly, brushing her thumb across Gaby’s hand in a soothing gesture. “I know you too well,” she added, calming the other woman down.

Relieved and touched at once, Gaby reciprocated the squeeze, deeply breathing to recompose herself, but she felt no need to put some distance between them. It was just Pierrette, living for shocking her, but when she looked closer, Gaby knew... Gaby knew that the feelings among them were painfully mutual, yet while Pierrette might’ve been prepared to say and show it, Gaby wasn’t sure about herself.

Then she felt Pierrette’s finger upon her chin, slowly nudging her to turn to Pierrette whose expression confirmed Gaby’s previous thoughts. The look of her eyes was intense, but as kind as possibly could be.

“I’d like to stay with you tonight,” Pierrette confessed when gazing into Gaby’s eyes, being honest and unexpectedly docile upon asking: “Is there anything I can do to ease your pain, my dear?”

It was impossible to look in Pierrette’s face without crumbling down and Gaby had to avert her eyes, biting her lower lip at the endearment, at the words aiming right at her aching heart, at the storm of emotions raging within her. It didn’t help that Pierrette raised her other hand, tenderly brushing Gaby’s cheek, causing her to close her eyes to prevent the forming tears to escape. 

“Just… just promise…” Gaby cleared her throat to gain some confidence in her own voice. “Promise me you will not try anything tonight.”

Gaby felt the searching gaze upon her face, but she managed to look back only once Pierrette nodded, catching both of her hands in hers when saying:

“I promise.”

 _How could it be so easy_ , Gaby wondered when Pierrette didn’t ask other questions, while her expression mirrored her eagerness to hear any suggestion that would make feel Gaby better.

And, indeed, there was something Gaby could think of, something she wouldn’t have ever considered hadn’t been for the compassion Pierrette engulfed her with, hadn’t been for her sheer will to help, hadn’t been for the kiss revealing the mutual interest in each other.

“Follow me,” she said, standing up without breaking the touch of their hands. She lead Pierrette upstairs, peaking once back at her to find the infuriating, knowing grin on her face, which she deep down kept finding infuriatingly hot.

“What will people think?” Pierrette couldn’t resist teasing Gaby who huffed in response unlike a bourgeois lady should.

“Tomorrow, people will know everything about our family,” she said when opening door to her room. As soon as Pierrette followed her in, she locked behind them, and nervous from Pierrette’s intense gaze, she headed for the wardrobe from which she retrieved a red gown. “In case you’d be cold during the night.”

Taking the gown from Gaby, Pierrette gave her another smirk.

“Judging from the accommodation of your room, I assume we’ll be sleeping in one bed then,” she remarked, setting the gown aside as she began unbuttoning her already torn dress. “I’ll keep my promise, but still I think that just the thought of us under one blanket will make me feel warm enough. Thank you, though.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Gaby shook her head when supressing a smile creeping to her lips and looking somewhere next to Pierrette because she wasn’t utterly capable of averting her gaze from the perfectly elegant woman in front of her, whose each movement seemed calculated, seductive, and Gaby wasn’t even pondering she was about to resist her any time soon.

There was desire lurking underneath, urging her to get closer, touch Pierrette like she had been craving for years, and sate the lust eating her up from the inside, however, it wasn’t to be tonight. And because she wished to remain true to this, she began undressing as well, focusing on providing Pierrette with as much privacy as possible, yet once she sat on the bed, she had to fix her eyes upon Pierrette to see whether she was really willing sleep in one bed without the prospect of starting the affair right now.

But she didn’t have to worry. Pierrette quietly slipped under the blanket, and facing Gaby, she waited for her there with her arms open in invitation that Gaby wasn’t strong enough to turn down. Tugging under the blanket as well with her back towards the other woman, she shakily breathed out as all possible traces of tension and anxiety left her when Pierrette’s hand touched her side, sliding forward on her stomach where it settled. In an attempt of showing Pierrette how much she treasured he was here, Gaby placed her hand on Pierrette’s, their fingers sort of naturally intertwined.

She felt Pierrette’s breath on her neck, and the comfort Pierrette was giving her almost ached in her chest again, bringing tears back to her eyes for a while because… because she hadn’t felt so safe, so content, and so… loved… for such a long time.

“Sleep tight, my dear,” Pierrette whispered into Gaby’s neck where she planted a sweet little kiss.

“You, too…” Gaby answered, though not daring to call Pierrette any endearments, yet she hoped Pierrette knew. She always knew… but Gaby doubted she was aware of how happy Gaby thanks to her felt, and how free she suddenly was…


End file.
